ATX Bassmasters: ATX News

August 6, 2011

Lake LBJ – Cottonwood Shores, Texas  

Waldrop won… again.  Starting to sound like a broken record?  Michael Waldrop is quickly beginning to develop a bit of a reputation as being one of two Kevin VanDams in the Austin, Texas area.  Who’s the other one?  That would be his brother, Jack Waldrop Jr.  While Jack does not participate in ATX Bassmasters club tournaments, he and Michael have been nearly unstoppable in the weekly Wednesday Night tournaments put on by Texas Tournament Zone all summer.  Michael and Jack Jr. have become such minor celebrities in the local bass circles that if you happen to see them on Lake Austin, you can almost guarantee that there will be a floatilla of 5-10 other bass boats crowded around their fishing spot.  It’s like a scene out of The Bassmasters Elite Series on ESPN watching KVD.  Michael proceeded to hold down his reputation by nailing the win in this month’s ATX tournament on Lake LBJ.  

Michael’s win this month is exceptionally impressive on several levels: 1) he bested the rest of the field by nearly 10 pounds, 2) he took over as the current leader for the Big Bass of the Year Award, and 3) he unofficially took over the lead for the Angler of the Year race.  On an incredibly frustrating and uneventful night for most of the field, Michael weighed in a five fish limit for an impressive 15.10 pounds.  Michael’s limit was anchored by a behemoth 8.40 pound bass which took over the lead for the Big Bass of the Year title.  Due to heavy winds and the difficult navigating due to the dark night time conditions, Michael, as well as the rest of the field fished within just a few miles of the launch site all night.  Michael caught most of his keepers by fishing a fluke around underwater lights.  Three of his keepers came fishing rock piles with a NetBait Paca Craw, and his big bass came at dawn fishing a fluke through some of the lake’s abundant shoreline vegetation in only 1-2 feet of water.  Michael said he caught fish anywhere from 2-12 feet of water.  Congrats on the three-peat, Mike.  

In second place was David Bueche with a five fish limit weighing in at 6.40 pounds.  David, like the rest of the field, complained of a slow bite, yet he managed to get five small keeper bites, which was enough to get him close to the top.  He initially decided to make the rough run up the lake in the wind and dark, but after getting up there, fishing for a bit, and finding conditions unfavorable, ran back down to join the rest of the anglers on the lower end of the lake.  David’s first fish didn’t come until 3 hours after the start of the tournament when he finally started getting a few bites fishing deep underwater lights.  He managed to catch four of his keepers with this pattern using a small 3.5” black/blue Grande Bass Rattlesnake on a 1/4oz shaky head popping it off the bottom in anywhere from 15-30 feet of water.  At sunrise, David’s fifth keeper was a small Guadalupe Bass which he caught swimming a finesse jig / grub trailer combo close to a deeper dock with some chunk rock.  

Third place finisher, Gary Brownell, weighed in 4 fish for a total of 5.1 pounds. Gary found the fishing slow at first in the high winds and didn’t get his first bite until the winds calmed around 4:00 AM.  Throwing a swimbait along the outer edges of an underwater light produced his first keeper bite.  Not able to get another fish from the lights with the swimbait, Gary pulled out a 5” Senko Pro that he fished on a shaky head around the lights again to get his next keeper.  As the sun began to rise, Gary picked up his swimbait again to fish the edges of the shoreline vegetation, and managed to pick up keeper number three.  With time on the clock dwindling, Gary managed to get his last keeper near the launch site by fishing the dam once again with the swimbait.  This one was a famous “monster” Guadalupe Bass probably only weigh half a pound.  At the weigh-in Gary was heard commenting, “I thought swimbaits were supposed to be big fish baits!”  

Congrats to all of our top finisher’s on a difficult and frustrating night tournament. Our next tournament is scheduled for September 24th.  Due to severe drought conditions causing low water levels on many area lakes, the final decision of the location has been postponed to be decided during the club meeting at the beginning of September.  Keep an eye on the website’s calendar in order to view the final decision after the meeting.  Those interested in participating in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.

July 10, 2011

Lake Austin – Austin, TX 

The ATX Bassmasters apparently found the fishing conditions very favorable when they fished Lake Austin in June because they found themselves fishing the same tournament two weeks later.  We almost could have just left the story for June here on the website and just changed the date of the tournament!  I guess when you fish a tournament on the same body of water, with nearly the same conditions, with nearly all the same anglers, you would expect the same results. Things were a little different though as most of the anglers in the field complained of a much more difficult bite than they had experienced just two weeks earlier.  Sure enough, however, some things never change as Michael Waldrop once again takes the cake.

This time around, Michael Waldrop, was in fact one of the anglers complaining about the bite on Lake Austin taking a turn for the worse.  Michael actually wasn’t even able to fill out his limit and won the tournament with only four fish in his bag.  When your four fish bag weighs more than your five fish bag from the previous tournament, however, you’ve obviously caught the right four fish.  Michael’s bag weighed in at 15.50 pounds.  “I fished the same spot with the same bait that I did two weeks ago,” Michael commented about his back-to-back wins.  Michael went back to the same location he fished for his win two weeks earlier and threw the same swimbait as well.  His pattern consisted of fishing a swimbait over grass in 12 feet of water.  “I caught all of my fish early, and then I just could never put anything together to catch that fifth one.”  But you know, sometimes all it takes are four bites on a swimbait.  

It looks like Ander Meine learned a few things after catching his big bass in the tournament two weeks ago and was able to use that information to put together a limit good enough for a second place finish this time around.  “I learned after talking to some of the guys who have been doing well out here that you really need to capitalize on that early morning bite right now and be on your best spot right as the sun is coming up.”  Ander tried his areas that produced during the dark two weeks ago, but didn’t find any success with that pattern this time around.  Sure enough, he made sure to go to his best location just as the sun was coming up.  “I had my limit within about 45 minutes of the sun coming up and then the bite died on that spot.”  Ander alternated between a shad w/ purple back colored deep-diving crankbait and a white colored fluke.  “They kept coming up to school for very brief moments, and when they did I caught them with a fluke.  When they went back down, I threw the crankbait along the deep 15-17ft grassline that they were relating to in order to pick them up.”  When they stopped eating the crankbait and fluke, he threw a Texas-rigged 8” Papa Chops Tickler Worm (Meine’s Magic) to pick up his fifth fish for a total of 10.90 pounds.  

Finding his way into third place on the strength of a bass that put him into the lead for the Big Bass of the Year award was ATX Bassmasters veteran, Gary Brownell.  Gary only weighed in two fish, but when one of those fish weighs an even 7.00 pounds, sometimes two fish may be all it takes to put you up in the standings.  Gary’s two fish totaled an even 10.00 pounds.  Gary caught his big bass while it was still dark around 5:30 AM.  He was fishing a mid-lake grassline in about 15ft of water with a “dark colored worm” when he hooked the big girl.  “I was thinking it was only about a four pounder in the dark and was about to swing the fish in the boat.  I saw it just as I was getting ready to swing it and thought better of it.”  Gary caught his second bass later around 9:00 AM when he began casting a Carolina-Rig around some boulders in 10 feet of water up the lake.   

Our next tournament is scheduled for August 6th on Lake LBJ where we’ll be holding a night tournament from 12:00 AM – 8:00 AM.  Make sure to rest up!  Those interested in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.

June 26, 2011

Lake Austin – Austin, TX

Summertime is upon us now, and with temperatures consistently breaking the 100 degree mark during the day, the ATX anglers begin to make their shift to becoming nocturnal.  Each tournament seems to start just a little earlier in an attempt to escape the increasing temperatures and recreational boat traffic of mid-day.  This time around, the anglers were allowed to fire off their first casts at 4:00 AM and were putting their rods back in their lockers by noon.  Of course it doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, if there is a tournament on Lake Austin, you can bet on one man being there.  Not only that, but you can also probably bet on one man walking away with at least some money from a high finish.  You guessed it, Michael Waldrop, waltzed in and walked away with another Lake Austin win with a total of 15.39 pounds. 

Michael was definitely a man with a plan in this tournament as both him and his brother, Jack Jr., have taken a number of wins on Lake Austin recently in weeknight tournaments.  Michael commented that pretty much all of his fish came from one spot and he caught fish sporadically throughout the tournament.  Not much is known about the specifics of the spot, but it was shared that most of his fish early in the day came shallow while later in the day he fished in about 12 feet of water.  Hydrilla also played a key role in the productivity of the spot.  Michael and his fishing partner caught fish on a variety of baits, but his bread and butter that put together the winning limit of fish was a 1-2 punch with a swimbait and a crankbait.  He mentioned that once the swimbait bite slowed he’d pick up the crankbait to get them going again.  Then once it slowed on the crankbait, the swimbait was back into play to do that same thing. 

Nipping at the heels of Michael with 14.46 pounds was our AOY leader, Stephen Malina.  Stephen is making a hard charge for the AOY award this year and this second place finish certainly helps.  Stephen’s success also relied heavily on one location.  Stephen’s location consisted of a drop-off very near the edge of an outside grassline.  Stephen kept his boat positioned in deeper water off the drop, while targeting fish on the outside grassline in 8-14 feet of water.  Almost all of his bites and keepers came in the early hours of the tournament.  Stephen wouldn’t comment on the specifics of his bait selection, but he threw “various plastics” on a Texas-Rig and a Shaky Head. 

Taking third place honors in this tournament was Temple Thomas with 9.90 pounds.  It’s not surprising to note that Temple’s successful patterns were nearly the same as Michael’s.  After all they were fishing in the same boat.  I hesitate to call one or the other a “non-boater” though.  While the pair fished out of Temple’s boat, Michael was seen up front on the trolling motor much of the day.  We’ll call it a team effort.  While details on location are the same for both Temple and Michael, Temple did find his primary success on slightly different baits than Michael did.  Temple’s big fish came fishing a senko, and he commented that he also caught some good fish early on a Brush Hog.  Temple, however, like Michael, threw a shad colored crankbait quite a bit throughout the day and caught his fair share of bass on that.  There is one thing that Temple mentioned that Michael didn’t though.  It seems as though later in the day, Temple and Michael found some schooling bass up the lake.  Hmmmm…. 

The last piece of information worth covering is the big bass of the tournament.  It was caught by Ander Meine and weighed 4.74 pounds.   Ander caught the bass late in the day as he was struggling to put together a last minute pattern.  He had been on a good pattern early in the tournament while it was still dark, but was plagued by lost fish and was not able to fill out his pattern with it.  Once the sun came up things got tough for him.  “It was about 10:45, the sun was hot, and there were ski boats everywhere.  I was running out of time and out of ideas.  I made kind of a desperate move and decided to try flipping some heavy cover up shallow.  The water up shallow where I was flipping was really churned up from all the boat traffic.  I almost didn’t try it, but I figured I had nothing to lose.  On my very first flip I caught the big one and saw a couple of other big ones in the area, so I decided to stick with it for the last hour of the tournament.  I never got another bite.”  Ander caught the fish flipping a Culprit Foxy Craw with a 3/4oz tungsten weight.  

Congrats to all of the anglers finishing in the money.  Our next tournament is scheduled for July 10th when we’ll be headed right back here to Lake Austin for another go at it!  Those interested in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.

May 15, 2011

Lake LBJ – Cottonwood Shores, Texas 

As we get close to halfway through the ATX Bassmasters tournament season, one man seems to be pulling away from the rest of the pack.  The name may surprise you, however.  The past couple of years Michael Waldrop has been the man with the target on his back at every tournament.  However, with Michael’s focus shifting this year towards larger tournaments, his ATX tournament participation suffers as a result.  Someone has picked up Michael’s slack in tournament participation though and seems to be sliding into position for a good shot at the 2011 Angler of the Year award.  Stephen Malina has been a member of ATX Bassmasters for some time, however, due to other obligations has not always been able to have enough tournament participation to be a serious threat to take AOY.  This year is different though.  The only thing better than his participation so far this year has been his consistent finishes and multiple tournament wins.  Chalk up win number three for Stephen as he once again finished on top at Lake LBJ in our May tournament.

This time around, Stephen Malina employed a variety of techniques in order to secure his win.  In an effort to give the anglers some “night-fishing” time, the tournament actually started about an hour before daylight.  Stephen reported that his first keeper bite didn’t actually come until daybreak, however.  As the sun rose in the morning, he began going to work catching bass holding higher in the water column by throwing both a crankbait and a spinnerbait around a long point and a drop-off in a shallow bay.   As the action slowed on the spinnerbait and crank with the rising of the sun, Malina switched over to throwing a shaky-head and filled his limit.  With the limit secured, it was time to hunt big fish by throwing a jig around rocks.  It paid off and he culled twice with the jig.  This tactic also produced the big fish of the tournament, 5.71 pounds, which undoubtedly sealed Stephen’s victory with a total of 12.77 pounds.  He also commented that the majority of his fish were caught in the 8-11 foot depth range.

Coming in a very close second, less than three ounces behind the winner, was David Bueche, with a total of 12.60 pounds.  David was running a very similar pattern to Stephen to produce his limit.  Three of his keepers came early in the morning throwing a crankbait, and then like Stephen, he switched over to the shaky-head in an attempt to fill out his limit and found success with that as well.  David was catching his fish on a shallow, grassy flat.  After catching a number of keepers on the grass flat with the shaky head, once again like Stephen, he made the attempt for the big bite with the jig.  David’s jig approach differed from Stephen though as he began catching his jig fish by swimming it around docks in 20 feet of water.  This method, however, failed to produce the big bite David needed to put him over the top.

Rounding out our top three was the always consistent, Rick Angrick, with a limit weighing in at 8.18 pounds.  Rick was one of the few anglers to report catching a keeper before sunrise and put his first fish in the livewell by fishing a lighted dock with a fluke while it was still dark.  As the sun rose, Rick’s primary pattern began to materialize and he spent the rest of the day targeting lily pads with about three feet of water underneath of them throwing a senko.  Anytime you see Rick’s name in the top three, you can usually assume that a senko played a part somewhere in his game plan… or a fluke for that matter.

Congrats to all of our top finisher’s on LBJ! Our next tournament is scheduled for June 26th on Lake Austin at the 360 Bridge.  Those interested in participating in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.

April 30, 2011

Inks Lake - Burnet, TX

Unusual circumstances brought a handful of ATX Bassamsters to fish an unfamiliar body of water to most, Inks Lake.  It all started when the originally scheduled monthly tournament for April had to be rescheduled due to the fact that no one in the club was going to be able to participate on the original date.  The date was then rescheduled to the end of the month, but the location was to remain at Lake Buchanan.  That is, until the anglers showed up at the launch ramp the morning of April 30^th.  Gazing into the darkness at the fierce winds, lightning, and waves blowing directly onto the launch ramp at Lake Buchanan, the decision was unanimously made that the conditions were unsafe on Buch.  Member, Rick Angrick, however, made the suggestion that nearby Inks Lake would provide a much safer alternative for the day.  Weighing their options, the present ATX members unanimously voted for the day’s tournament to take place on Inks Lake.

Arriving at the new lake, anglers found the conditions much more favorable with only light winds and overcast skies.  Inks, however, provided a strange scenario for the anglers as only one or two anglers had any kind of experienceon the lake.  Not only that, but Inks proved to be a much different lake from the Lake Buchanan that they were prepared to fish.  Many members referred to it as a “Mini LBJ.” Anglers had to make adjustments and figure out a pattern quickly.  The man who unlocked the secrets of Inks Lake the quickest, however, was ATX Bassmasters veteran, Gary Brownell, taking first place honors and big bass with a total weight of 11.84 pounds!

It didn’t take Gary Brownell very long to get dialed into his pattern for the day as he looked at the layout of the lake.  One of the first things Gary noticed was the abundance of the lake’s shoreline grass, Water Willow.  “Any time I see that shoreline grass, I know exactly what I’m going to be doing for the day.  There’s always fish in that grass,” Gary commented at the weigh-in.  And so Gary went to work.  Primarily targeting patches of Water Willow on the main lake, Gary caught all of his fish by bringing a self-modified white spinnerbait through the grass.  He noted that often times he would hear his spinnerbait blades clink as they hit the grass near the water’s surface before a fish would hit.  The big bass of the tournament, weighing 5.10 pounds, also fell victim to this strategy for Gary.  Excellent job on quickly dialing in on a pattern on a new body of water, Gary!

The man with the Inks plan, Rick Angrick, took second place honors.  Being the only ATX member with any kind of significant experience and knowledge about Inks Lake, it is to be expected that Rick would place somewhere high in the standings by weighing in 9.94 pounds.  However, opposite of Gary, Rick didn’t get dialed in to a pattern until late in the day.  Rick struggled for the first few hours after only catching a couple of small keeper Guadalupe Bass on a crankbait.  Finally, in the last couple hours of the tournament, Rick began targeting small offshore rockpiles that came up to about 4-5 ft from the surface of the lake.  Throwing a weightless senko on the top of the rockpiles was his ticket for success, and he was able to quickly put together the rest of his limit before quitting time.

The newest member of the club, Robert Burns, proved that he might be a force to recognize from members’ backseats in the rest of the tournament season by taking third place with three bass weighing 8.14 pounds.  Despite only weighing in the three fish, Robert obviously had the quality bite dialed in.  Robert caught all three of his fish by pitching a Texas-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog to the outer edges of water willow grass located near shallow docks. He managed to catch all three of his fish in the earlier hours of the tournament while the overcast skies remained, but once the sun came out, he struggled for any more bites on the brush hog.  Still, those three fish proved to be enough to get him into the top 3 and earn him a payday.

Our next tournament is scheduled for May 15th on Lake LBJ at the Cottonwood Shores boat ramp. We will be launching earlier than normal and weighing in earlier than normal so please make sure to note the tournament hours on the website’s calendar.  Those interested in participating in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.

January 23, 2011

Lake Travis – Austin, TX

This year's season opening tournament for the ATX Bassmasters proved to be a little more successful than in previous years on a number of fronts.  Our last few January tournaments, anglers were forced to brave sub-freezing temperatures and deal with ice build up on their equipment.  This year, the forecast said there would be some sun, and while the sun never did come on tournament day, the temperatures stayed relatively mild, the wind was nearly non-existent, and the worst that was dealt with were the occasional light, misting showers.  Along with the relatively pleasant conditions, came a good turn-out of anglers and a good turn-out in bass brought to the scales.  Last year's brutally cold conditions kept most anglers in bed and the bass in a negative mood.  While there were no real brutes caught this time around, 57% of the field managed to weigh in a limit of bass, and everyone weighed in a fish.  As is usually the case on Lake Travis, the standings were determined by a separation of ounces, but it was Stephen Malina who was able to scramble to the top and beat out the competition by 8 ounces for the first place prize!

Stephen's success revolved primarily around fishing a jig on steeper banks with deep water and targeting the 17-30 ft depth range.  Talking about the areas he fished, Stephen said, "It was mostly bluffs and 45 degree banks, sometimes where the two met."  He also revealed that a couple of his fish came from beneath docks on banks like he described.  Stephen threw his jig all day long, but threw a crankbait out every so often to break up the monotony.  Only one fish in his limit was weighed in as a result of the crankbait, however.  He also managed to cull once during the day, throwing out a smaller 14" Guadalupe Bass for a larger 16" Largemouth Bass.  At the end of it all, Stephen Malina weighed in a nice limit of Lake Travis two pound cookie-cutter largemouths that totaled 9.96 pounds.  Congrats to Stephen on his season-opening victory!

Coming in a close second place with 9.44 pounds was our former January champion for the last two seasons, David Bueche.  David put up a true fight in this one.  Not intending to, David employed the "retread pattern" and fished within eyesight of the launch ramp all day.  Due to a blown motor from the start, David was forced to stay within trolling motor distance of the launch site for all 8 hours of the tournament.  He made the most of it, however, and even managed to have his limit in the livewell before 10:00 AM.  He very thoroughly fished a couple of rock, bluff-type banks with a 1/2 oz jig / beaver combo in a brown / blue color pattern.  That combo accounted for most of his larger keepers, but he did have two other small keepers caught on a rattle trap off a shallower flat that were eventually culled.  All fish that made it to the scales were caught on the jig.

The struggle for third place was even closer than that of first and second.  The separation of third to fifth place was a mere .05 pounds!  That's not even a full ounce between three anglers!!!  But, managing to pull ahead by half a nose, was one of the club's top non-boaters, Aaron Campbell, with a limit weighing 8.48 pounds.  Aaron, fishing out of the same boat as last year's AOY, continues to prove to not ignore the guy fishing behind you.  Aaron caught his two bigger largemouths by throwing a small shadtreuse colored crankbait in shallower 4-8 foot deep water near a ledge that dropped to 12 feet.  One of those fish earned Aaron the Big Bass prize for the tournament weighing in at 3.37 pounds.  "My big bass was caught at 2:30 and hit my bait as soon as it hit the water.  I didn't even crank it.  It was like a topwater bite." Not bad for water temps in the low 50s!  Aaron caught his other three smaller keepers in deeper water on green pumpkin plastics; one on a tube bait and the other two on a finesse worm.

Congrats to all of our anglers for providing for some tight competition!  Our next tournament is scheduled for Feb 13th on Belton Lake at the Temple Park launch ramp.  Those interested in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.